School Passports Promote Parental Participation

You won’t find any exotic locations on this passport. Instead of stamps from foreign lands like Morocco and Bangladesh, you’ll find stamps from Parent Teacher Organization meetings and Family Math Night.

In an effort to inform parents of school events and encourage their participation in the multitude of activities and meetings going on throughout the school year, the developed a parent involvement passport and distributed it for the first time this year.

And, district officials say it’s paying off already.

Superintendent Laura Morana said parents are showing up to meetings and school activities they might not have otherwise attended eager and expecting to get a stamp on their paper passport. The passport includes a complete schedule all in one place and that stamp provides that little bit of satisfaction on top.

“Our efforts to involve our families has been consolidated to the point that parents don’t have to look for a flier to come home in their child’s backpack anymore,” Moran said. “It’s all included here.”

If a stamp weren’t incentive enough, parents with the most stamps at the end of the year will be entered into a drawing with the chance to win prizes, a flier touting the passports reads.

Among the events listed in the passport you’ll find plenty of the standard must-attends, including back to school night and – Red Bank added the student component last year on a trial basis in one class and has since expanded it – as well as other events that benefit both parents and students, like Family Literacy Night and Let’s Get Cooking, an event aimed at teaching children and parents alike the key to healthy eating.

The passport also includes pleas for volunteer opportunities for events like school dances and fundraisers.

Early in the school year Morana said parents were responding to the passports with attendance up at events many events. Whether it’s the collection of information or the promise of the stamp drawing them in remains to be seen, but so far the idea is working.

Check out the attached PDF in the picture section for a look at Red Bank School District's Parent Passport.